My boyfriend and I recently hired Orion Moving and Storage to conduct our move from Dallas, TX to Los Angeles, CA. This was a horrific experience and the most unprofessional business transaction I have been involved in. We scheduled for Orion to arrive at 9:00 am on April 2. They finally showed up 2 hours late at 11:00 am and with only 1 worker for loading. Janice Rickerson, sent to facilitate our move, let us know right away that the amount quoted to move our small 1 bedroom apartment ($1,080.00) would be exceeded. After her assessment of our things she gave us a new quote of $1,400.00. So we then signed our "binding" contract. As our things were loaded we started to get negative feedback from Janice, which included looks of disgust along with eye rolls as each item went on the truck. Janice informed us that she had STILL underestimated our cost; however, she assured us that we had signed a "BINDING" contract. This baffled me considering when they arrived we showed them all of our things stacked in storage. Janice insisted our binding contract meant that if it did cost Orion more than estimated the company would eat that cost. We would not incur any additional cost because the contract was binding. As loading came to an end we received a call from Janices supervisor, Matthew, who let us know that we ARE responsible for paying more than the contract amount should they determine the weight of our things exceeds their estimate. We weren't sure how this could be true since Janice assured us a binding contract prevents that from happening. We now realize that according to the contracts fine print the extra cost was viable; however, the information fed to us by Janice was a complete lie. Our things were now in transit to Orions warehouse and we were unsure how much this move would really cost us. Over the next few days we did not receive 1 single phone call from Orion with status of our move. We called them 3-4 times daily, but could not get Janice or Matthew on the phone. We were finally able to find someone who could give us further info 4 days later. This is when correspondence began with Meghan Torrey. Meghan then informed us that the amount our contract was written for would increase to $1,774.00. We were now being told we would pay close to 2x our original quote. The communication with Orion over the next weeks in regards to when our things would arrive went as follows: April 5th, our things are to arrive Thursday the 8th or Friday the 9th; April 8th, our things are to arrive Monday the 12th or Tuesday the 13th; April 13th, our things are to arrive Wednesday the 14th or Thursday the 15th; April 15th, Our things are to arrive Sunday the 18th or Monday the 19th. We finally obtained our possessions on April 20th. Please note that during this time period we were not contacted even once by Orion giving us status of our delivery. ANYTIME we spoke with them we had to contact them ourselves. Orion feeding us false information was stressful and unprofessional. When we finally received or belongings we noticed that 2 boxes were missing. We notified Orion immediately.in one of these boxes were numerous family photos of my friends and family and other irreplacable items. As of today our things have not been located. Not only that, but the communication from Orion has once again been terrible. We finally resorted to receiving their claim forms for our missing items. We were never given an explanation or apology. We did learn from this transaction to ALWAYS READ THE FINE PRINT.info given verbally does not always hold up to the contract put in front of you. We do feel the way we were treated during this process is inexcusable. The fact that absolutely nothing has been done to resolve the missing items in question is appalling. I feel action should be taken to insure Orions business ethics are transformed for the sake of their future clients. We have also learned that Orion's practices are not legit nor legal. There were several instances during our transaction when their practices did not follow the FMCSA's rules and regulations for interstate movers. Before choosing a moving company check out these websites; otherwise, you could be victimized just as we were. Www.protectyourmove. Gov and
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